George Clooney contracts malaria (again)

Actor/humanitarian reveals in interview that he came down with the disease (for a second time) while visiting Sudan earlier this month.

While George Clooney's commitment to ensuring peace in the Sudan is unrelenting, it's not without some risks to his personal health.

The 49-year-old recently revealed to CNN host Piers Morgan that he contracted malaria while visiting Juba in southern Sudan during the pivotal election for independence there in early January. It was his second time contracting the disease that causes more than 1 million deaths a year.

"I guess the mosquito in Juba looked at me and thought I was the bar," Clooney quipped.

A spokesman for Clooney said the actor has completely recovered. "This illustrates how with proper medication, the most lethal condition in Africa, can be reduced to a bad 10 days instead of a life sentence," she added.

Last year, singer Cheryl Cole came down with malaria after a visit to Tanzania. "I thought I was going to die," she later revealed. "I actually thought I was going to die. I thought if I’m going to die I want to die soon because I was in so much pain."

Certainly, Cole's fears were justified — it's a scary ordeal to go through. And as this New Scientist video shows, what's happening inside your body is even more terrifying. For the first time, the malaria parasite has been caught on video attacking and decimating a red blood cell. It's amazing how violent the whole thing appears — even at the cellular level. Check out the video below.